Eleven men who have shaped
the destiny of our football club over almost four decades. Some,
we've treated them like gods, others we've hounded from office. Some
have received both types of treatment for their troubles. Part one of
this four part series begins in 1961, with the appointment of Don
Revie, and reflects on the four managers who had the unenviable task
of following in his footsteps, over the next twenty years.

Don Revie

(1961-74)

When Bill Lambton, then Leeds
manager, signed Revie as a player in 1958, he could never have
suspected the impact this would have on the club for the following
two decades. In his thirteen years in charge, Revie took a team
struggling at the foot of the second division to the pinnacle of
european football. Two league championships, the FA and League Cups
and twice the Fairs Cup sound impressive enough, but fail to fully
convey how Leeds dominated football in the sixties and early
seventies. Sometimes unlucky, at other times robbed by shameful
refereeing decisions, Revie's team's haul of silverware could - and
should - have been twice as heavy.

Don Revie was, and always will be,
Mr Leeds United. He may have fallen from the nation's favour,
following his England debacle, but Leeds fans worldwide will never
forget his priceless contribution to the Whites' cause.

Brian Clough

(1974)

From the sublime to the
ridiculous. Clough may have gone on to prove himself one of the most
successful English managers but, at Leeds, he was simply in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Notoriously critical of Revie's Leeds, why
Manny Cussins and the board chose him ahead of Don's choice, Johnny
Giles, we will never know. He lasted 44 days, leaving acrimoniously
with allegations that 'player power' was to blame.

Jimmy Armfield

(1974-78)

A true gent, universally respected
throughout the game, Jimmy can still be heard regularly providing
'expert' analysis on Radio Five. He did an excellent job at Elland
Road, steadying a rapidly sinking ship and taking us to a European
Cup final in the process. Any successor to Revie was always going to
find himself in a 'no-win' situation, compounded by the fact that a
rapidly aging team was in desperate need of new blood. A series of
top half finishes and an FA Cup semi-final would have done us more
than nicely in the decade which followed, but in 1978 it wasn't seen
as good enough - and Jimmy was sacrificed.

Jock Stein

(1978)

I can still remember the
excitement which greeted Stein's arrival at Elland Road, in 1978. The
tabloids, who weeks earlier had regarded us as mid-table 'also rans'
now placed us amongst their pre-season favourites for the
championship. Stein was a legendary figure who might well have been
able to live in Revie's shadow. Unfortunately, though, we never got
to find out. Like Clough before him, he lasted just 44 days. The lure
of the Scotland job proved too great and we were left pondering an
uncertain future once more.

Jimmy Adamson

(1978-80)

Adamson inherited what was largely
Armfield's team, a group of players who were more than capable of
holding their own in the top half of the division. And so it proved.
After an uncertain start, Leeds surged up the table, in the second
half of Adamson's first season, and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. Over the following twelve
months, Adamson seemed to completely lose the plot, selling some of
our best players (Hawley and Currie) and buying in sub-standard
replacements (Does anyone remember Wayne Entwistle?)

No-one could have predicted the
horror which would follow in the following decade, but in September
1980, United fans had seen more than enough. Following six defeats
out of the opening seven games and a series of increasingly
aggressive protests by the fans, the board decided that enough was
enough. Adamson was sacked and never heard of again.